This dinner of Lobster and Crab Ravioli is one that my husband requested. I was a bit surprised when he asked me to make this. He likes very simple meals and is not a big fan of pasta (polar opposite of my palette!). Also, the man had never tried lobster in his life until we started dating. I’ve introduced him to many new foods, most of which he doesn’t ever seem to be overly excited about. Although lobster has stayed a favorite of his, I was surprised that he’d ask me to cook up a few perfectly good lobster tails, mix a bunch of other stuff in there and stuff it inside some pasta. Sounds great to me, but very unlike something he would request.
But I am so glad that he did request it, because it was delicious! And I also got to do something out of the ordinary in the kitchen which I’m always a fan of. There are a lot of steps but it was worth it. C, my 4-year-old, was totally freaking out when I put this on the table. He heard “lobster” and decided to start crying. But once he did try it because it was that or eat nothing for dinner, he devoured it! He pointed at the few bits of lobster and crab filling left on his plate and said he wanted more of “that part”. When I informed him that “that part” was lobster and crab, he just started laughing. So all of that to tell you two things: first, it’s so yummy that your picky 4-year-old will eat it and love it and second….well, I don’t remember what the second thing was because I wrote that part yesterday and can’t remember what I was going to say. 
Okay, so to get started, you need to make the pasta dough for the ravioli. Grab these items here:
Homemade Pasta Dough
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 Tbsp water
You’ll combine everything in a food processor and process it together for about 30 seconds or so. If it’s too wet and sticky, add some more flour. If it’s too dry, add some more water. When it’s a nice consistency, turn the dough out onto a floured cutting board or counter top and knead until it is soft and smooth.
Now you’ll wrap it up and place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes while you make the filling for the ravioli. Make sure you use the dough within a couple hours!
Now, for the filling and the sauce…..
Lobster and Crab Ravioli with Garlic Cream Sauce
For the filling:
2 or 3 lobster tails, about 4 oz each
6 oz lump crab meat
1 clove garlic crushed
2 Tbsp tomato puree
Juice 1/2-1 lemon, depending on your taste…and juiciness of your lemon.
1 tsp thyme
2 Tbsp cream cheese, softened
Dash cayenne
For the sauce:
1-1/2 cups of reserved lobster water (don’t dump the water after boiling the lobster!!)
1 tsp chicken base or chicken bullion cube
1 cup half and half
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4-1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper
Okay so first you’ll need to boil the lobster tails for about 7 minutes. I only had two tails, but I’ll get three next time.
No wonder C didn’t want to eat them, they do look funky when you’re only 4!
Now, leave the water on to boil and reduce down as you prepare the filling. You want it to get down to about 1-1/2 cups.
Take a pair of kitchen shears and just cut the tails open down the back and bottom and remove the meat. You’ll chop all of that up. Chop up the crab meat into about the same size chunks.
Transfer the crab and lobster meat into a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients for the filling to the bowl and stir everything up until it is all combined. Give it a little taste and adjust any seasonings as you’d like.
Now, this is the fun part! Remove the pasta dough from the fridge and grab a chunk of it. On a floured cutting board or counter top, roll out the dough into a long thin rectangle. Not too thin, as you don’t want the ravioli to fall apart when cooking. Set this rectangle aside and do the same with another, trying for the same approximate size and shape since these will be top and bottom pieces.
Once you have two rectangles, brush one with an egg wash which will ensure the top sheet of pasta sticks to it. Now, place dollops of the filling on the piece you brushed with the egg wash.
Then, place the top piece on and carefully push down the dough around the filling so the two pieces stick. Try to not leave any air inside the pocket, as it could cause the ravioli to burst when you cook them.
Now, cut the ravioli into square size pieces. You don’t need to leave too much pasta around the edge of the pocket, but don’t cut it too close or else there won’t be enough to really seal it. If you’ve ever eaten ravioli before, I’m sure you can figure it out!
Take a fork and then just crimp around the edges of each pocket so that it’s sealed.
Now, you’re ready to make the sauce! In a saucepan, bring the reserved lobster water to a boil and add in the chicken base and crushed garlic. Let that dissolve and get really fragrant, then reduce the heat to med-low and add in the half and half, salt and pepper and cheese. I only added about 1/4 cup of cheese, as I didn’t want the sauce to be too heavy. But it definitely wasn’t getting thick enough no matter how long I let it simmer without it, so I added in the cheese to help things along and it was so good! Anyhow, whisk everything together pretty much constantly over a low heat setting until the cheese is all melted, which shouldn’t be long.
Finally, carefully place the ravioli in a pot of boiling water and cook for about 3-5 minutes. It took a few minutes longer than I expected with fresh pasta for mine to cook, closer to 6 minutes, so just keep an eye on it. Also, brush the edges with a little more egg wash if they begin to dry out at all while you’re making the sauce.
Remove the ravioli from the water with a slotted spoon and place three or so on a plate. Top with the sauce and serve right away.
At this point, we were really hungry! So of course I didn’t take any pictures of the finished dish before we ate, I just figured I would do it with the leftovers after we were done. But…..there weren’t any leftovers! So I hope you can use your imagination for how this looked all put together! I guess I’ll just have to make it again (oh darn!) and update the picture later.
I hope you are all enjoying your day wherever you may be! Go…………create something beautiful today!
-Heather
Dandelion Daze 